Maximizer CRM Version 12 Gets TEC Certified

Headquartered in Vancouver, BC (Canada), with worldwide offices and business partners, privately owned Maximizer Software delivers customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and professional services to meet the needs of small to medium businesses (SMBs) as well as divisions of larger enterprises.

With over 20 years of experience in the CRM industry, Maximizer offers one of the most comprehensive sets of features available in a CRM solution. Established in 2002 (with the predecessor company having been founded in 1995), Maximizer has sold over one million licenses to more than 120,000 companies globally.

Some of its partners include Microsoft, Intel, Rogers, SAP Business Objects, Bell, and Research in Motion (RIM).

I recently met with Maximizer representatives to steer certification of the latest version of Maximizer, Maximizer CRM Version 12.

Maximizer’s Director of Product Management, John Easton, demonstrated the product to me and my colleague (a Maximizer super user himself) Christian Scott. The demonstration was informative and focused on all of the new features (and there are plenty of them!) included in Version 12. John provided a thorough overview of each element of the product to satisfy the needs of TEC Certification.

Click here to learn more about TEC Certification and the process that vendors go through to become TEC Certified.

High-level Overview of Maximizer CRM 12
Maximizer’s target clientele are large to mid-market companies across many industry verticals including education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and wholesale distribution (to name a few). Some of its clients include HSBC, Oxford University, Siemens, and TD Securities.

Maximizer CRM is an integrated sales, marketing, and customer service and support management solution accessible via multiple platforms including Web, mobile, and desktop. It offers simple-to-use list-based views (much like those of Excel or Word), with customizable column setups and reports to display all the important details of each contact on one screen. It is easily configurable for organizations in any industry and is a key tool to optimize sales processes, enhance marketing initiatives, and improve customer service.

Snapshot of Certification Results
Maximizer CRM Version 12 was released in November 2011 and came with a lot of changes and enhancements over the previous version. Firstly, the Web version of the product (known as the Web Access product), while it doesn’t look 100 percent the same, is almost virtually identical in terms of functionality compared to its Windows-based counterpart since the addition of these latest version 12 enhancements.
Some of these changes/new features include:

mobile access interface (Maximizer claims to be device agnostic and therefore works with any mobile device including, iPhone, iPad, and more)

social networking (LinkedIn integration)

hyperlink abilities

drag and drop

ability to undo searches (to return to previous view)

dashboards

campaign module

quota management

Outlook integration/sync

re-written grid control (allowing for better performance when loading lists)

address book tab features (user-defined fields, documents, an social networking)

Address Book on Maximizer CRM Web Access Version 12

One thing I noted with the Web version of Maximizer CRM 12 was that the Web forms are much clearer and cleaner than the Windows version. John commented that Maximizer developers had spent a lot of time on improving this.

What I liked about the latest version is its new LinkedIn integration. When a user includes a new contact or company record in their address book, the system will allow the user to search for the company via LinkedIn. As soon as a record is found, it will display the information (see Figure 3 below). Once the appropriate person or company is chosen, the information can be stored in the Maximizer address book record. This can also be done with other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Maximizer CRM 12 Address Book Search via LinkedIn

Maximizer has the ability to integrate with other business tools like Microsoft Office, Exchange, and Office, as well as accounting software. It also has an add-on called Workflow Automation that users can try for free for 30 days.

Coming Soon...
I am currently working on completing a full report, which will be available for download in the coming weeks. The full report covers Maximizer’s strengths and weaknesses, and a benchmarking analysis of each functionality module according to TEC’s knowledge base of CRM solutions. You will find valuable information on Maximizer’s functionality, including:

Marketing Automation

Customer Service and Support

Analytics and Reporting

Also in the works: a certification report focusing on the sales force automation (SFA) features and functions of this new version.